Q: Can I prepare baskets of strawberries or blueberries by placing high-quality fruit on top and inferior quality fruit on the bottom?

A: The Shulchan Aruch (Choshen Mishpat 228:10) forbids mixing a few fruit of inferior quality amongst high-quality fruit and selling it all at the higher price. It seems, though, that if the price is fair for average-quality fruit and there is no implication that the entire basket is high-quality, it is permissible. This is because the customer expects each basket to contain some good fruit and some inferior ones.

This is especially true if the common practice of all fruit stores is to prepare berry baskets in this manner, since then the customer knows that despite the high-quality impression of the top, the bottom is likely to contain berries of a lower quality (see SM"A #16).

However, if high-quality berries are packed all around, giving the basket the impression of containing only high-quality fruit, and the inferior ones are "hidden" in the middle – it would be prohibited.